Two-way wall brace



March 4, 1969 J, P, ELLIS 3,430,397

Two-WAY WALL BRACE Filed Feb. 6, 1968 Bof'r 0,30

INVENTOR. JA/VES R ELL l5 @www 28,-@ 25 ATTORNEY5 United States Patent O 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A tension strut device adapted to be applied to a building wall experiencing either inwardly or outwardly bowing forces applied thereagainst; said device comprising lengthadjustable strut members running vertically along the opposite sides of the wall and interconnected across the top of the wall by a cap device; each strut member having hook means at its bottom end for hooking said device to ground anchor lbolts or the like; the device being thereby adapted to apply compression forces to the wall resulting in forces tending to keep the wall rigid against forces applied thereto from either side of the Wall.

The invention is adapted for use in connection with any brick or stone or concrete -building rwall; swim pool wall; or other fabricated wall which is subjected to lateral bulging forces. Such forces are typically encountered in relatively long straight wall fabrications which are exposed to storm wind pressures which on occasions will tend to blow the wall inwardly or out.

Whereas a variety of pilaster type brace devices have been previously suggested for such purposes, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved and structurally simple brace device for brick or block walls or the like, which may be easily applied thereto (either during construction of the wall or at some later time) and which will eectively brace the wall against lateral bulging and/ or collapse.

Another object is to provide an improved brace device as aforesaid which compactly nests against the wall and involves no substantial protuberances beyond the general profile of the wall structure, per se.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following specification and the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. l is a side elevational view of a concrete block type wall showing a brace device of the invention in operative position;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view, taken as suggested by line 2-2 of FIG. l; and

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the brace ydevice of FIG. 1.

By way of example, the invention is illustrated and described in detail hereinafter as being applied to a typical cement block wall construction designated generally at 10. However, it is to be understood that the blocks 12 may alternatively be of brick, or cut stone, or the like; and either drystacked or cemented together. The wall footing or foundation is illustrated at 14 and includes anchor bolts 15 embedded therein.

As shown herein, a brace device of the invention may be constructed to include a wall cap member 16 formed of two parallel angle irons 18-18 cross-braced by end 3,430,397 Patented Mar. 4, 1969 ICC strap irons 20--20 and a center iron 22 which is inverted U-shaped and includes rdownwardly extending legs 24-24, terminating at their lower ends in right-angle ange portions 25. Diagonal braces 26 are welded or otherwise fixed to interconnect the ends of the angles 18 to the lower ends of the center iron 22 to complete the fabrication of a rigid saddle device for the top of the wall as shown. The flange portions 25-25 of the main strap member 22 are bored to accommodate bolts 28-28 which also engage the top flange portions 29-29 of corresponding pull strap members 30-30 which are dimensioned so as to lie atwise against the sides of the wall 10'. Right-angle ange devices are formed at the lower ends of the strap members 30-30 to engage the anchor bolts 15 extending upwardly from the Wall foundation. It will be appreciated, of course, that in lieu of metal strips as indicated at 30-30, any other suitable tension applying device may be employed such as chains or steel cables, or the like.

Thus it will be appreciated, particularly by reference to FIG. 2 of the drawing herewith, that when the brace device of the invention is applied to a wall structure as shown herein the tension adjustment bolts 28-28 may then be actuated to apply to the system any desired degree of tensioning; and differentially if preferred to suit diierent problems. The tension adjustments of the system may be effected of course either by applying a wrench to the heads of the bolts 28 or by applying a wrench to the nuts, or both; but in any case by a simple screw-threading a-djustment of the device the tension forces applied by the system may be readily regulated to suit the requirements of any situation. By virtue of this arrangement the tension forces exerted by the system of the invention are primarily applied as compression forces acting through the innermost vertical edges of the buil-ding Iblocks comprising the Wall. However, this tends to rock contiguous blocks, one relative to the other; their innermost edges operating as fulcrum surfaces. Thus, it will be seen that the device applies to the wall structure a combination of force effects including a substantial component tending to bow the wall in any desired direction and in direct opposition to forces which would otherwise tend to bow the Wall.

It is of course to be understood that whereas only one form of the invention has been illustrated and described in detail hereinabove, various changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the following claim.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In combination, a building wall comprising a vertically stacked series of building wall blocks extending upwardly from a rigid footing having anchor bolts extending therefrom, and a brace device therefor,

said brace `device including a saddle member of inverted U-shaped form disposed to straddle at least the uppermost course of building blocks,

said saddle member comprising a pair of parallel disposed angle irons embracing a plurality of said building blocks along the opposite top side corner portions of said wall, and cross brace members extending transversely thereof and fixed to said angle irons and having leg portions depending downwardly therefrom along opposite sides of the wall and terminating in detachable connection portions,

and a pair of tension transmitting members disposed respectively vertically along opposite sides of the wall, each of said tension members having means at its lower end detachably connected to one of said anchor bolts and terminating at its upper end in means coupling it to one of said detachable connection portions,

said saddle and tension transmitting members being dimentioned and arranged so that said tension transmitting members may be selectively tautened so as to apply to opposite sides of said saddle member any desired tension kforces to stabilize the Wall against laterally applied forces tending to bow the Wall.

References lCited UNITED STATES PATENTS `IOHN E. MURTAGH, Primary Examiner. 

